Phil Schiller exits Apple App Store role amid wave of executive departures as Tim Cook steps down

Schiller steps down as App Store chief

Phil Schiller, the executive who has led Apple's App Store since 2015, has stepped down from the role in recent days, Bloomberg reported on Monday. According to TechCrunch, Schiller first joined Apple in 1987 and has been with the company ever since, apart from a four-year break, making him one of its longest-serving figures.

He is not leaving the company entirely. TechCrunch reports that Schiller will stay on as an Apple Fellow, a title reserved for people who have made outstanding technical or leadership contributions to the company. What he will work on in that capacity has not been specified, though Bloomberg's sources see the fellowship as a significant step toward his eventual retirement.

Schiller's exit closes a period defined by the most consequential legal challenge to the App Store. Epic Games filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple in 2020, arguing the company had built an illegal monopoly around its in-app fee system. As TechCrunch recounts, the monopoly claims were ultimately dismissed and the judge largely ruled in Apple's favor, but Apple was still ordered to let app developers link to external payment options. That legal fight remains unresolved as the store changes hands.

New leadership and a new home for the App Store

Day-to-day operation of the App Store will pass to Carson Oliver, according to Bloomberg. Oliver has been at Apple for more than 14 years, all of it spent within the App Store division.

The handover also comes with an organizational shift. Bloomberg reports that the App Store is being moved out of Apple's marketing department and into the services division led by Eddy Cue. TechCrunch says it contacted Apple for more information about the transition.

A wave of executive exits

Schiller's departure is part of a broader outflow of senior leaders as Tim Cook steps away from the CEO role, with John Ternus taking the reins.

Jeff Williams, Apple's chief operating officer, retired in December after 27 years with the company. The retirements of Lisa Jackson, vice president for Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives, and of general counsel Kate Adams were also announced in December. Jennifer Bailey, the longtime head of Apple Pay, is set to retire in October after more than 20 years at the company.

In June, Paul Meade, the vice president in charge of the Vision Pro headset, left Apple to join OpenAI. According to TechCrunch, Apple has since downsized the Vision Pro team, which had lost roughly 100 employees as of two weeks before publication.

Why it matters

Apple is changing CEOs and replacing a large share of its executive bench at the same time, an unusually deep turnover for a company of its size. The App Store handover lands while the store's fee model is still being contested in court, meaning Carson Oliver inherits a business whose rules may continue to shift. The structural move of the App Store into the services division suggests the store will now be run as part of Apple's services business rather than its marketing arm. And as TechCrunch notes, incoming CEO John Ternus faces the task of rebuilding a new generation of corporate leadership on top of everything else already on his plate.